The United States women's national volleyball team routed the Chinese national squad with a straight three-set victory  3-0 (25-21, 26-24, 25-22) to earn a ticket to the semifinal round of the 24^th edition of the FIVB World Grand Prix Finals Group 1 on Friday at the Indoor Stadium Huamark in Bangkok, Thailand.

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According to Team USA, the 2015 FIVB World Grand Prix Most Valuable Player Karsta Lowe led the American team by playing a solid offense and produced all 12 points from the attack line.  Middle Blocker Rachael Adams took care of the titleholders' defense with six blocks, finishing the match with a total of 11 points while outside hitter Michelle Bartsch chipped in with 11 points for the winners.

 "We didn't play our best volleyball, but I really like how we played and responded. We brought things back in control, that's the big part of how we played in this match. It's just making a good play after another. We've improved every day," Team USA Coach Karch Kiraly said after the match. "We did a pretty nice job by attacking from the service line. We did a nice job on blocking. We also tried something different using the two-libero system. We will try to improve for tomorrow's match."

According to the FIVB, China's opposite spiker Zeng Chunlei paced the national team match-high 14 points while wing spiker Yanhan Liu contributed 12 points for the 2003 FIVB World Grand Prix winners.

The annual women's international volleyball tourney serves as the last major event for teams qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games to fine tune their systems. The two volleyball powerhouse teams will also be meeting on the final day of pool play in Rio next month.

TagsTeam USA, Team China, Rio Olympics 2016, 2016 fivb world grand prix, Karsta lowe